Book review.

The Art Of Craft

New Taunton Books For Autumn Woodworking

For many do-it-yourselfers, autumn is prime-time for projects. The hustle of summer is over, the weather is perfect for outdoor work, and thoughts of completed pre-holiday projects run rampant.

The trick is making the most of your time between summer heat and the first snowfall. A number of books by a leading DIY publisher offer enough time-saving tips and instruction to help even novice weekend home warriors accomplish a number of tasks this fall.

When it comes to woodworking and crafting fine homes, few publishers can boast the expertise of the Taunton Press, based in Newtown, Conn. With a stable of master craftsmen, the publisher of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding magazines has churned out thousands of articles, books and videos over the years on topics as diverse as building a better sawhorse and how to use a table saw as a disk sander.

A number of new books with the Taunton imprint have hit the bookshelves in recent months, unlocking a treasure trove of secrets of the building trades.

The book takes readers through the entire process-from layout to building to installation-for a range of cabinets, offering a variety of tips on how to design layouts that fit into tight spaces. It's stocked with tips on how to customize doors and drawers, choose the right hardware and choose cabinet designs. Tolpin's advice, which is supplemented by an abundance of drawings and photographs, is pragmatic throughout. On assembling cabinets, for example, he offers these tips:

- Stick to modular cabinet designs, which are simple and straightforward. Modular designs will also restrict most cabinets to an easily managed size, he advises.

- Build cabinets in a shop, not on site. Modular designs can be easily followed in a shop, and site-built cabinets rarely are built with backs-making them difficult to remove and reuse in subsequent remodeling.

- Consider the timing. Building a typical set of cabinets will take two to four weeks (or longer). Will your family be able to get along without a kitchen space for that long?

Taunton publications are not typically filled with four-color shots that drip with ambience. Instead, their major appeal to the skilled do-it-yourselfer is in the wealth of techniques and step-by-step instruction-from showing how to safely set an extension ladder at the correct angle, to highlighting how to cut acute angles on a chopsaw.

It should be no surprise, then, that two new titles bearing the series moniker "Tricks of the Trade" offer a compendium of time- and money-saving tips. Released in softcover, both "Building Methods and Materials" (224 pages, $10.95) and "Jigs, Tools and Other Labor-Saving Devices" (224 pages, $10.95) are culled from columns that appeared in Fine Homebuilding magazine's popular columns: "Tips & Techniques" and "Q&A."

Both "Tricks of the Trade" books offer proven, site-tested solutions that should help DIYers get the most out of tools and talents, regardless of the level they possess. Both are illustrated with simple line drawings and clear, concise instructions.

"Woodshop Jigs and Fixtures" (226 pages, $22.95) is another book that will probably have mega-appeal to the woodworking geek. Nearly every page has an illustration, but it is hardly an index to a million-and-one jigs that can you use.

Instead, "Woodshop Jigs" outlines the basic elements, strategies and theories of setting up jigs. In doing so, author Sandor Nagyszalanczy offers an approach not unlike the Biblical passage that says: "If you give a man a fish, he'll have supper; if you teach a man to fish, he'll never go hungry."

From the basic elements shown in "Woodshop Jigs," woodworkers should be able to design jigs and fixtures that can be used for making furniture, stairways or musical instruments. The book also offers insight into materials, hardware and techniques for building jigs that will retain their accuracy over time.

The final chapter presents simple, practical guards and safety devices that can be fitted to nearly all shop-made jigs and setups. As with most Taunton books, the tome is indexed and includes a guide for supplies.

Finally, Taunton offers an index of the first 85 issues of its Fine Homebuilding magazine, which premiered in February 1981. The "Fine Homebuilding Index" (208 pages, $14.95) is an indispensable tool for researching techniques and trends that have been highlighted on the magazine's pages.

Cross-referenced by subject and author, the book indexes articles from the magazine as well as 14 books from Taunton's previously released "Builder's Library" and "Great Houses" series. Special to the Tribune.

----------

To order the "Fine Homebuilding Index" and a free catalog of Fine Homebuilding books and videos, call 1-800-888-8286 and ask for operator 77.